Archive for the ‘IP PBX’ Category

Multi-Tech released a new firmware (1.1.15) which greatly enhances its functionality (makes it work).
I tested it for a number of days and found that in most instances it had no problem receiving or sending faxes.
The only issue I ran into was when it was sending or receiving to an IP based fax machine, but at that point it’s hard to find where the fault is.

The biggest short coming is that the unit does not have caller-id support (yeah I know it’s 2012) which is kind of a pain when you are looking for a fax in your email client.
Multi-Tech says that this will be added in a future release.

After some research it looks like the FF240 is using technology made by Commetrex.
The technology seems to be new but works well. (I will be reviewing their SmartATA in the near future)

Overall the FF240-IP went from an almost useless device to a nice fax server.

With the following setup you can simulate SLA (shared line appearance) on the Positron G-124 IP PBX using the Yealink T26 or T28 IP-Phone.

The following is going to assume that the default settings in “PBX Settings” were not changed and you have successfully added at least two phones to the system.

Do the following on all phones:

1) In User Templates make sure “Enable BLF” is checked (apply config if it was changed)
2) In Phone Provisioning click “Configure” on the the phone you want to setup.
3) On Key 1 configure the following: Type: BLF, Line: 1, Value: 701, Pickup Value: *7701
4) Do the same as above on keys 2-4 except increment 701 in both values by one each time (702, 703, etc)
5) Next on Key 10 configure as follows: Type: Call Park, Line: 1, Value: 700
6) Save the settings and reboot the phone

The steps above setup four “Shared Lines” but you can add or subtract the number in step 4.

When speaking on the phone press Key 10 (“Hold”), Key 1 will change to red on all the phones.
Now the call can be “picked up” by any extension in the office.

This post is a follow up to my posts on the Panasonic KX-UT670. (Link)

Now that I got Exchange working on the phone I was able to import all my contacts.
The problem now is when trying to call almost any of my contact’s numbers the call fails.

After some research I discovered the following; my contacts have their numbers formatted in the following manner: (888)555-1212.
When the KX-UT670 sends the call to the PBX it includes all the charterers in the phone field.
So instead of 8885551212 it sends (888)555-1212. When the PBX receives the call it can’t find a route and the call fails.

It has all the features of Asterisk Business Edition in a small simple to setup package.

Base support is good but can take a day or two for a response.

Now for the cons:

Once a week the flash memory becomes read only and no can leave messages. The system then reboots itself!

I contacted Digium and they said it’s a known issue that will be fixed in a later update.

Another downside is that even though there is a WAN port it does not have any protection against SIP registration attacks.
Most PBX’s this size (Positron, Grandstream, and Yeastar) provide some level of protection.
When the system get’s attacked it can freeze up and/or stop accepting calls.

Recently a customer who installed a new Asterisk based PBX had the following issue with their door phone.

They hooked up their existing analog door phone to the FXO port on the PBX and had it route to a ring group.
When someone rings the bell the system sees it as an incoming call and rings the phones in the ring group. The person that answers the phone can then “buzz” the person into the office using their keypad.

The problem was that it took about five seconds before the phones in the ring group would ring.

After some research I figured out that the issue was that the system was waiting for caller id which was not supplied by the door phone. After three to four seconds it timed out and continued.

The fix was very simple; in the zapta.conf set usecallerid=no and the delay is minimal.

In the past I have used their analog version with great results. Their API is great.

As far as configuration goes this model is very similar as the non-VoIP versions except for the SIP trunk setup.
In terms of fax sending and receiving this unit fails to perform.

At first I tried connecting to a VoIP provider that supported T.38. The results were mixed with a success rate of about 60 to 70%.

Next I connected it directly to an Adtran Total Access VoIP Gateway going into a PRI.
If I set the unit to send T38 without negotiation is worked perfectly. The problem was that all inbound calls were rejected.
Next if I set it to negotiate T38 then the success rate would drop back to 60 to 70%.
In addition there is only one trunk so it can’t have different configurations for inbound and outbound.

For now this unit is sitting in storage hopefully they will come out with a firmware update that will fix these issues.

———————–Update 01/11/2012 —————————-

From Multi-Tech:

It looks like Engineer already has a fix for it and it is currently in testing phase. I don’t have a time frame for you. But I will update you as soon as the firmware fix is available.

Once I receive the new firmware and test it I will update this post with the results.

———————–Update 01/13/2012 —————————-

Multi-Tech sent me a firmware upgrade to 1.1.5.
After the installation the success rate was a little better but still not acceptable.
I will see were it goes from here.

———————–Update 01/16/2012 —————————-

Multi-Tech is now saying that it was tested with Broadvox. Since I don’t have a BroadVox account and have no interest in signing up for one I guess I’m stuck.
Since I purchased this as a demo unit I can’t return it so for now it will just sit upon the shelf until they come out with a reliable firmware update.